Iranian woman strips in public in protest

Photo: UGC via Agence France-Presse The video of the young Iranian student in her underwear, first sitting and then walking slowly in front of the prestigious Azad University, went viral over the weekend.

Stuart Williams – Agence France-Presse and Cécile Feuillatre – Agence France-Presse in Paris

Published at 9:28 AM Updated at 2:43 PM

• Middle East

Concerns and questions are growing over the Iranian student arrested after undressing in public on Saturday in front of Tehran’s Azad University, with activists fearing she could be transferred to a psychiatric hospital.

The video of the young woman in her underwear, first sitting and then walking slowly in front of the prestigious university, went viral this weekend. And the student has been elevated to the status of a new figure of women’s rights in Iran.

“I salute the courage of this young woman who is resisting and has risen to the rank of icon for the fight of women in Iran, for the fight of women everywhere where their rights are threatened,” declared the head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot on the public channel France 2.

According to the activist groups that broke the story on Saturday and posted the video, the young woman took off her clothes in protest after being harassed by university officials who said she was not respecting the strict Islamic dress code.

Another video shows her being violently bundled into a car by security forces.

Iran’s Fars news agency confirmed the incident on Saturday, saying the student had been wearing “inappropriate” clothing to class and had “undressed” after being “calmly” warned by security officers.

In an unusual statement, the Iranian embassy in France said that “this student suffers from certain family problems and fragile psychological conditions” and that “signs of behavioral abnormal had already been observed by those around him.”

??????? It's an image that has become iconic in a matter of hours. An Iranian student undressed in #Tehran to protest the mandatory wearing of the veil.

Since her arrest, she has been missing. She is reportedly in a psychiatric unit pic.twitter.com/zysjodoFTX

— FRANCE 24 Français (@France24_fr) November 4, 2024

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Psychiatric hospital

Uncertainty reigned over her fate on Tuesday. According to the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI, based in New York), the young woman was “forcibly transferred to a psychiatric hospital.”

According to the Azad University spokesman quoted by conservative media, she was handed over to the police due to “immoral” conduct. According to him, the mother of two was separated from her husband, “under great psychological pressure and [suffering] from mental disorders.”

Foreign-based IranWire reported that she was a French language student and had never exhibited any mental disorders.

“Iranian authorities systematically use involuntary psychiatric hospitalization as a means of suppressing dissent and undermining the credibility of opponents,” CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi said in a statement.

The organization cites several cases, including Afsaneh Bayegan and two other actresses, who were deemed “mentally ill” by a Tehran court in July 2023 after defying Islamic laws on wearing the veil mandatory.

Or that of the Kurdish rapper Saman Yasin, arrested during the demonstrations of the “Femme Vie Liberté” movement, and hospitalized in a psychiatric establishment in July 2023.

The recipient of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi, also mentioned the transfer of the young woman to psychiatry. “Making opponents sick is a proven method of repression,” she said, denouncing “torture.”

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“You kill, beat, imprison…”

The student “turned her body into a symbol of dissent,” reacted another Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner (2023), the imprisoned opponent Narges Mohammadi, on social media, demanding “her release and an end to the harassment of women.”

Islamic law in Iran imposes a very strict dress code on women, who are required to wear headscarves and loose clothing that conceals their curves.

Iranian women are behind unprecedented protests in the country, following the death of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in September 2022, arrested for not respecting this code. The “Femme Vie Liberté” movement was massively repressed, with at least 551 deaths and thousands of people arrested, according to NGOs.

“You kill, you beat, you imprison… but the story ends with the victory of those who refuse to submit to your oppression,” exiled Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani said on Instagram.

On Tuesday, several dozen people gathered at Place du Panthéon in Paris, including two women in their underwear holding signs that read: “To the Iranian women insurgents, grateful women,” and “Women Life Freedom.”

Photo: Kiran Ridley Agence France-Presse Activists from the feminist group Femen take part in a rally in support of the Iranian student arrested after undressing in Tehran.

“We have no news of her [the student], but what we do know is that the regime's script is in full swing. She is now being presented as crazy, hysterical,” denounced Chirinne Ardakani, lawyer and president of the Iran Justice organization.

“In any case, no mental illness would justify beatings, arbitrary arrest, repression.”